The age-old craft of papier-mâché is a wonderful way to be creative – and is a perfect project to do with your children. We made a cute rabbit family with a little piglet as their pet.

You will need
• template for rabbit’s ears, arms and legs
• newsprint (unprinted), torn into small pieces
• old book pages, torn into small pieces
• balloons and balloon pump
• cold glue
• mixing bowls
• paintbrushes
• thin wire
• wire cutter
• craft paint
• gum tape
• fabric remnants and ribbon or cord for the clothes
• thin string or knitting yarn
• embroidery thread and needle
• sewing thread and needle
• pinking shears and ordinary scissors

Download the Template

1 Plan how large you want to make your papier-mâché doll and more or less how it should look. Our doll is 15cm tall. We used a small, long balloon for the head and body (the kind that you use to make balloon animals), but you could also use larger balloons.

2 Inflate the balloon to the correct size. Twist the top section a few times to form the head then secure with a piece of string. Cut off the ends of the string.

3 Thin three parts cold glue with one part water. Paint this mixture over a section of the balloon and stick pieces of newsprint onto it. Paint more glue over the top. Continue until the balloon is covered then leave it to dry. NOTE Don’t cut the paper with scissors, as it won’t adhere as smoothly.

4 While waiting for the first layer to dry, form the arms, legs and ears with thin wire. Use our template as a guide or shape your own. TIP You can also use balloons, pipe cleaners or strips of rolled-up paper to form these parts.

5 Fill in the ears, feet and hands with pieces of paper and glue another layer over the body if needed. Leave to dry properly.

6 Secure the wire sections to the body with wet gum tape. NOTE Gum tape works best as other types of tape come loose when they are wet. Tear long paper strips to wrap around the legs and arms and stick in place with cold glue. For the feet, crumple up pieces of paper and stick in place. Cover with paper strips.

7 Complete the entire body and then strengthen the arms, legs and ears in the areas where they are attached to the body. Also cover the gum tape with pieces of newsprint. Leave to dry overnight.

8 Now stick pieces of the old book pages over the entire body as before and leave to dry properly.

9 In the meantime cut out the pattern pieces for the rabbit’s dress with your pinking shears. The top part is 25 x 6cm and the bottom part 25 x 7cm (so that it sticks out a little at the bottom). With right sides facing, sew the two strips together at their short sides and then turn through to the right side. Work a row of tacking at the top of the dress so that you can gather it in later. Cut out the centre sections for the ears and cut the ribbon or cord so that it fits as a belt around the body. We cut another length for the dress’s straps. We worked the eyes, nose and mouth with embroidery thread on a book page and then tore out the sections and glued them in place. Also glue the fabric ears in position and leave to dry.

10 Mix some craft paint in the colour of your choice and paint a thin coat over the entire doll so that the printed text still shows through. We also painted the feet pink. Once the paint is dry you can dress the doll and pull in the gathering stitches. Work the belt in place over the top, fold the cord for the straps in half and secure.

Daddy Rabbit‘s dungarees

You will need
• pattern
• remnant of striped cotton fabric
• scrap of plain fabric for pocket
• length of woven ribbon braid
• contrast coloured sewing thread
• stranded embroidery thread in green, orange and brown

Download the Pattern

To make

1 Enlarge the pattern to the required size. From the striped cotton fabric cut out one front piece and one back piece. Cut a square of plain fabric for the pocket to fit the bib section of the dungarees.

2 It is easiest to embroider the carrot motif on the pocket before sewing the pattern pieces together. Using two strands of embroidery thread, work the carrot and stem in neat satin stitches.

3 Sew the embroidered pocket to the bib using overcast stitches in a brown thread. With the right sides of the fabric facing, sew the outer leg and inner leg seams closed.

You can do this by hand or by machine. Turn through to the right side.

4 Fold the seam allowance over to the wrong side around the bib section and at the back waist. Hand stitch seams in place using the contrast coloured sewing thread. Leave the hem at the lower legs raw.

5 Fit the dungarees onto the rabbit, cut the ribbon to fit across the shoulders and then attach to each side of the bib and waist with a cross-stitch.

Pet piglet

The pet of the family! His body is formed around a small water balloon and his ears and tail are shaped from wire. For the trotters and snout we rolled paper into balls and glued them to the body. Decorate further, as with the rabbits. TIP If your piglet is ‘nose heavy’ or topples to one side, add a heavy object like a washer to the bottom to counter the weight. Cover with some more paper.